Wednesday 27 July 2011

Gibraltar ID card was not accepted by Spain at border

GIBRALTAR (Panorama) The Opposition say they have first-hand information of a young man of 17 who was refused entry into Spain on Sunday evening on the basis that he could not cross with an identity card if under 18. The young man was accompanied by his 24 year-old sister. The person was allowed to cross when he went home and obtained his passport. According to eyewitnesses, there was a group of about 14-15 youths at the frontier who were experiencing a similar problem and whose identity cards were being rejected as a valid travel document. The Opposition add that>>>they take a very serious view of this matter. The Gibraltar identity card format was changed in 2000 by the GSD in order to keep Spain happy. It appears that notwithstanding this change the Spanish authorities continue to cherry pick when they recognise the cards and when they do not. "Given the seriousness of this matter, the Opposition has brought this incident to attention of the United Kingdom Government since it appears to be a breach of EU law to reject a valid travel document. The United Kingdom as the Member State responsible for Gibraltar has an obligation to investigate the incident and put matters right," said a statement.

2 comments:

Juan Antonio said...

En varias ocasiones he visitado Gibraltar con una amiga, Británica además, a la que la policía de Gibraltar no permitió el acceso. El motivo era que perdió su pasaporte y sólo tenía su NIE y su carnet de conducir. La Policía Nacional no pone problemas, porque les consta su nacionalidad en el NIE, pero la británica insiste en que "no es un documento reconocido por no ser espacio Schengen"... ¿no será que el documento de identificación de Gibraltar tiene la misma validez que el NIE Español?...

PROSPERO said...

TRANSLATION OF JUAN ANTONIO'S COMMENT: "On several occasions I have visited Gibraltar with a British friend, who was not allowed on the Rock. The reason was that she had lost her passport and only had her NIE document and a drivers licence. The National Police do not make a problem because her nationality is on her NIE, but the British [i.e. RGP] insists that it "not a recognized document as it [Gibraltar?] is not in the Schengen area." ... Is it not possible that a Gibraltar ID card has the same validity as the Spanish NIE?"